Help Soft reset on arc

[dlff]

Hi there, I have just got my ARC 2 days ago. This is my 4th Android phone. My 1st Android being the Nexus 1, 2nd was the SE X10 Mini & my 3rd HTC HD. ARC is by far the best Android phone I have own. When I got the phone it was a Gingerbread 2.3.2 & 2.3.3 was available for upgrading & so I did. Can't tell the difference between 2.3.2 & 2.3.3 as I was running on 2.3.3 from day one. SE has come along way & their Software is up to date unlike in the past. All Android phone's battery sucks & the HD is the worse of all.
I need you guys to tell me how to do a "SOFT RESET" on the ARC. All suggestions are most welcome.
Cheers mate!!

 

[daveybaby]

A 'soft' reset generally refers to resetting the phone without turning it off and on again. By default the arc doesnt have this option (on most phones it appears in the power off menu).

I think there is a mod over on the xda forums which adds the menu option, but you have to be rooted to install it. To be honest i wouldnt bother, just do a 'hard reset', i.e turn the phone off and on again, takes about 2 seconds longer.

 

[srki]

A 'soft' reset generally refers to resetting the phone without turning it off and on again. By default the arc doesnt have this option (on most phones it appears in the power off menu).

I think there is a mod over on the xda forums which adds the menu option, but you have to be rooted to install it. To be honest i wouldnt bother, just do a 'hard reset', i.e turn the phone off and on again, takes about 2 seconds longer.

I believe that's not what he meant. Soft/Hard RESET is not the same as soft/hard RESTART.
Soft reset puts back all the settings in your phone back to default values, like it was when you bought it. Your data (pictures, contacts, messages, video, etc.) however stays intact.
Hard reset does everything like soft reset but it also deletes all your data on internal memory.
On Xperia Arc soft and hard reset are explained HERE.

Hope I helped.

Cheers!

 

[daveybaby]

Youre right, my brain was thinking PCs not phones.

 

[jonmorris]

Since 2.3.3 there's an additional option to reset the settings and save your data.

It helped when a memory card problem had corrupted by SwiftKey installation and the phone had switched to the Chinese keyboard and wouldn't change or even give the option. However, it doesn't reset certain things like your Wi-Fi networks (all it does is turn Wi-Fi off by default) so in some instances I can see you'd need to go all the way and clear everything, including the memory card in my case (which has gone on to fail completely; thanks Lexar!).